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The financially strapped U.S. Postal Service is considering cutting as many as 120,000 jobs.

Facing a second year of losses totaling $8 billion or more, the agency also wants to pull its workers out of the retirement and health benefits plans covering federal workers and set up its own benefit systems.

Congressional approval would be needed for either step, and both could be expected to face severe opposition from postal unions which have contracts that ban layoffs.

The post office has cut 110,000 jobs over the last four years and is currently engaged in eliminating 7,500 administrative staff.

But the loss of mail to the Internet and the decline in advertising caused by the recession have rocked the agency.

Postal officials have said they will be unable to make a $5.5 billion payment to cover future employee health care costs due Sept. 30. It is the only federal agency required to make such a payment but, because of the complex way government finances are counted, eliminating it would make the federal budget deficit appear $5.5 billion larger.

If Congress doesn't act and current losses continue, the post office will be unable to make that payment at the end of September because it will have reached its borrowing limit and simply won't have the cash to do so, the agency said earlier.

In that event, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said, "Our intent is to continue to deliver the mail, pay our employees and pay our suppliers."

Postal officials have sought congressional assistance repeatedly over the last few years, including requests to be allowed to end Saturday mail delivery, and several bills have been proposed, but none has been acted on.

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In addition the post office recently said it is considering closing 3,653 post offices, stations and other facilities, about one-10th of its offices around the country, in an effort to save money. Offices under consideration for closing are largely rural with little traffic.

And in June the post office suspended contributions to its employees' pension fund, which it said was overfunded.

In its 2010 annual report the post office reported a loss of more than $8 billion on revenues of $67 billion and expenses of $75 billion.

And even while total mail volume fell from 202 billion items to 170 billion from 2008 to 2010 the number of places the agency has to deliver mail increased by 1.7 million as Americans built new homes, offices and businesses.

The latest cutback plans were first reported by The Washington Post, which said a notice to employees informing them of its proposals stated: "Financial crisis calls for significant actions, we will be insolvent next month due to significant declines in mail volume and retiree health benefit prefunding costs imposed by Congress."

Bank of America has joined a growing list of banks planning layoffs, announcing Sept. 12 that it would trim a whopping 30,000 jobs over the next several years. The nation's largest bank says it is aiming to save $5 billion annually with the cost-cutting plan.

BNY Mellon will cut three percent of its workforce, laying off approximately 1,500 employees, as a cost-cutting measure. According to CEO Bob Kelly, revenue has been growing but "expenses have been growing unsustainably faster."

Merck plans to cut up to 13,000 jobs worldwide by 2015, on top of almost 17,000 layoffs planned after its 2009 merger with Schering-Plough. This new round of job cuts represents a 12-13% reduction in employment and is intended, in the words of CEO Kenneth Frazier, to address “the need to operate more flexibly and nimbly, from a lower cost base.”

HSBC will cut around 10,000 jobs, three percent of its worldwide workforce, as part of an aggressive cost-cutting campaign. Stuart T. Gulliver, CEO since January, has said he wants to reduce operating expenses by at least $2.5 billion over two to three years, and plans to do so in part by selling HSBC’s bankcard business in the U.S.

In addition to peers HSBC, Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs is reportedly looking to lay off as many as 1,000 employees in order to boost its bottom line. The secretive firm said only that its cuts would be broad-based but were unlikely to be significant in its growth markets, where investment would continue.

In late July, beleaguered smartphone maker Research in Motion said it would cut 10.5 percent of its employees, or around 2,000 workers. Competition from Google and Android has eaten into the company’s profitability and share price, and its foray into the tablet computer market -- the Blackberry Playbook – has so far fizzled.

In July, Cisco announced an effort to save $1 billion that would entail the elimination of 6,5000 employees – 2,100 early retirements and 4,400 layoffs. Management is not immune: In fact, vice presidents and higher are to be cut by 15%, while the full-time, regular workforce sees a 9% reduction.

Barclays, which already shed 1,400 jobs this year, is said to be preparing for another round of cuts in the second half of 2011, targeting the same figure (or slightly more). The layoffs come on the heels of a fall in profits, which were down by a third.

In June, Sears Holding Corporation, employer of 300,000, announced it would cut 700 workers from the more expensive appliances departments at Kmart. Some may have been transferred; remaining employees were trained to answer customers’ questions.

Government contractor Lockheed Martin—total workforce: 126,00—said in June that it would cut 1,500 jobs from its Aeronautics division. In July, the company announced a voluntary layoff program for 6,500 more employees, offering a severance package to all salaried U.S. workers at corporate headquarters and internal business services.

In a cost-cutting move, Swiss banking giant UBS (UBS) announced August 23 that it would trim 3,500 people from its workforce over the next two-and-a-half years. Most of the cuts, which are expected to save $2.5 billion in annual costs, will be in the firm's underperforming investment banking unit. The New York Timesreported that the bank will take a charge of $698 million and most of that will be this year.

14 Comments

There are three post offices within two miles in my area. Ridiculous! Who really must have Saturday delivery? Congress has been responsible for the Postal Service CEO not being able to run the Company!

Postal employees, through their unions, have priced themselves out of being needed. Sorry to hear 120,000 might become un employed but there is no promise of lifetime employment for federal employtees--unless you are a federal judge-then you can act in any inept corrupt manner for as long as you want.

unions will destroy the postal service and states the have union employees,everyone will lose there pensions.THE YOUNG PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY HAD BETTER WAKE UP BEFORE IT'S TO LATE......................GREED AND GOVERMENT SPENDING WILL DESTROY ARE GREAT COUNTRY..

And the unions will go along with this under Obamas watch??? Not likely.... Last time this happened was under Regans watch.... the USPS wanted a strike and the Natl Guard was mobilized.... Obama doesn't have the manhood for this type of action.... right Moochelle??

If you let the Post Office raise the cost of a letter to 50c it would be profitable. Close remote underused small offices, end Saturday delivery, freeze wages, reduce overhead, along with a lot of othe tweeks and you can save Humpty Dumpty.Ever get out of UPS or FedEx for lett than $10 ? !!! If you tear up the P O all you will have left for national delivery will be UPS or FedEX !!!!!

economics my friend, to be profitable you must charge true cost of delivery. if you are charged 10$ to mail a letter you will figure out a way to get whatever from point a to b via computer or phone call.

put the post office up for sale, and let it be privitzed. can you imagine the money it would raise and save!! real estate, vehicles, infastructre, artfacts, union contracts, pensions, and leases would all be sold or renegotiated. better yet let it go bankrupt and sold at auction! the true market value of an item. but alas, the feds would step in and a massive bail out would ensue. unions pensions, arcane work rules, time employed, vaction days, healthcare, union dues, building leases, job banks etc, etc etc would be not be touched. lease or sell the post office to Fed/EX/ UPS/ or DHL with a blank slate and a machete.

The private sector does not have a stellar performance record either. The post office provides universal service to everyone and every place. Companies like FedEx, UPS and DHL pick and chose where they will deliver. We are fast to come up with solutions but often do not realize the ramifactions of our suggestions. The Post Office has served our country well for over a 150 years! Taking it apart is easy, fixing the mess left will be hard. If you believe the market fixes everything just look at our ugly economy. The problems facing our nation is a combination of government and private enterprise failures.

Unemployment numbers are comprised of those that are in the job market for the past 30 days. It does not include those that have not been in the job market in the last 30 days: people who have given up looking; those that have gone off unemployment because it has run out. One solution to unemployment is "High Speed University" check it out

One more american institution is rapidly declining do to advancements in technology and communications. That in addition to a loss of civility, privacy, jobs and a widening gap in wealth is making progress look unpromising. Sometimes forward progress really means going backwards in some areas. Another 100,000 jobs that support families will disappear with no real prospects for new employment in the future. There are faces and dreams behind those cold money figures.